Abu Dhabi T10: Gurbaz's fastest fifty helps Delhi Bulls register win

Abu Dhabi [UAE], December 2 : Delhi Bulls secured a comfortable 10 wicket win over The Chennai Braves in the second fixture of Wednesday in the Abu Dhabi T10. Rahmanullah Gurbaz starred with the bat, scoring the fastest half-century of the competition as the Bulls made light work of the target of 81.
Earlier, the Chennai Braves recovered from a poor start to post a respectable total on the board. However, it wasn't to prove enough as the Bulls romped home with almost six overs to spare, thanks to a stunning opening partnership between Gurbaz and Chandrapaul Hemraj.
The Delhi Bulls wasted no time in kickstarting their chase with Gurbaz taking the initiative against the off-spin of Mark Deyal when he hit him for two sixes and a four on the final three balls of the first over. There was no let-up in the intensity from the openers in the next over by Munaf Patel who ended up conceding 19 runs. The Afghanistan batsman was severe on Campher in the third over, smashing him for a hat-trick of boundaries before lofting the penultimate ball of the over for a maximum.
Captain Angelo Perera threw the ball to Dasun Shanaka to try to stem the flow of runs. However, Hemraj tore into him, hitting the first two deliveries of his over for a six and a four. He then turned over the strike to his opening partner who pulled Shanaka for a six to bring up his fifty in just 14 balls. The left-handed Hemraj then slog-swept the first ball of Deyal's fifth over to complete the formalities and give the Bulls a comprehensive 10 wicket win.
The Chennai Braves struggled right from the beginning as Mohammad Shahzad was run out by his countrymate Gurbaz in the second over. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who has looked the team's best batsman in the tournament, had to contend with a duck against his name as Romario Shepherd removed him on the final delivery of the second over. Ravi Bopara tried to take on the guile of Adil Rashid but without success as The Chennai Braves found themselves in deep trouble at 15/3. Things could have been worse had Dwayne Bravo's men held on to the chances that came their way.
The Bulls dropped as many as three catches in the innings with Shepherd dropping two of them. Mark Deyal and Angelo Perera got together to do the repair job in the fourth over, cutting down on the risks in the process. They finally opened their arms after taking the powerplay ahead of the eighth over. The attack proved to be too little too late and despite Perera's 40 and Deyal's 21, the team could only manage 80 runs in their allotted ten overs.
Brief scores: Delhi Bulls 81/0 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 57*, Chandrapaul Hemraj 24* Munaf Patel 0-19); Chennai Braves 80/4 (Angelo Perera 40, Mark Deyal 21*, Romario Shepherd 1-16).